What is foster care?

All children should have the opportunity to experience a safe and loving family life – regardless of their age. Marist180 helps older children and teenagers find a home where they can be cared for.

Foster Care is looking after someone else’s child in your own home at a time when his or her family are unable to do so, with the view of eventually restoring them to their original family or transitioning them to independent living. It is about being able to provide a safe, secure and stable environment for a child or young person.

Marist180 Foster Care Program (Out of Home Care) looks after children and young people from 8 to 18 years of age. Foster care is needed when a child or young person cannot live at home because of abuse and neglect, parental mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse. They may have witnessed domestic violence or general family crisis or breakdown.

Children and young people in foster care are just like other children except they have experienced some disruption in their life. This may impact them physically, emotionally and behaviourally.

Being a foster carer is a challenging but rewarding role.

Foster carers are willing to share their homes, time, energy and lives with children who need love and support. These children may have experienced abuse or neglect, and this may be why the Children’s Court has placed them in the state’s care.

Living with a foster family offers these children the chance to be part of a caring family environment. Children can learn the give and take of family relationships, the realities of living on a family budget, how families cope with unexpected events and what it is like to live with parents who both set limits and encourage their children.

Although separated from their birth parents, children in care may still have contact with some members of their birth family. It’s important that Marist180 and foster families support the child’s unique identity and background by being respectful of their birth family and culture.

Marist180 provides carers with support 24/7 and tax-free allowances to assist with the costs of raising a child.

Find out more about the supports and allowances you are entitled to as a carer .

“He is someone else’s child and nothing can alter that; but you and he may create together something unique that will stand him in good stead for the rest of his life. Your care may have helped him to cope with separation and return undamaged to his loving parents. Or it may have been some sense of security and trust in the adult world that may keep him afloat in a sea of troubles when he returns home. Of one thing we can be sure; even if he appears to forget you in the top of his mind, he will never forget you within the deeper parts of his mind where his childhood memories are hidden, yet continue to influence our lives. You are there, alive in him forever. This is your responsibility and your reward”.
~ Excerpt from Olive Stevenson “Someone Else’s Child”.

Get in touch

If you are interested in getting involved, please contact:

Call

02 9672 9200

We are recruiting for a Case Manager, Family Preservation based in our Western Sydney office. The successful candidate must have a degree in Social Work, Psychology or similar and knowledge of the child, youth and family services industry. Applications will be assessed as they come in.

The Family Preservation Program is a Family and Community Services funded program aimed at keeping families together where significant risk of harm is present and where it is safe to do so.